Thomas Fletcher has done it again. The author of countless popular camera comparison charts has compiled an up-to-date lens comparison chart for both aspherical zoom lenses and anamorphic primes.
Lots of lenses and a PDF
This time around, it’s the optical side of things which caught Fletcher’s attention. He compiled two different charts—one of them solely covers spherical zoom lenses and the other anamorphic prime lenses. The lenses listed in these charts are sitting on the high-end cine side of things but nevertheless these guides can be extremely helpful in order to get a rough overview of the current market. Thanks, Thomas!
2016 spherical zoom lens comparison chart
The requirement for being listed in this chart is quite simple:
All lenses must be available in PL Mount and currently sold.
So you won’t find cheaper (no, that doesn’t necessarily mean bad) lenses in here such as Canon EF zoom lenses. I think you have to decide for one segment of the given market, otherwise, this chart would be a combination of far too massive and a little too confusing to be of any use. Maybe that’s why there’s no spherical prime lens comparison chart. That would be a long list, for sure.
2016 anamorphic prime lens comparison chart
To many of us, shooting anamorphic remains the holy grail in image aquisition. It’s an optical process which is nearly impossible to achieve digitally in post, so gather your money and choose wisely!
Conclusion
It’s not easy to keep track of each and every lens on the market, so comparison charts like these can be a huge relief. Sure, they shouldn’t be considered as complete or as the final word on the subject. However, they can serve as a decent starting point and that alone can be very helpful at times. As I said, a comparison chart for spherical prime lenses would be super helpful, too, but I think you would have to break it down into several segments in terms of price range, sensor size, coverage and so on. In the end, I think the sheer size and complexity of the end result would likely hinder its usefulness somewhat.
If you want to dig even deeper, here you can find the 2012 comparison chart
Sources: twitter.com
Download the PDF’s (Google Drive): spherical zoom lenses, anamorphic prime lenses